Mistake 2. Ignoring or misinterpreting the data

If you're an online store only shipping in India, anyone visiting your website outside India doesn't count (unless they're looking for a gift for friends or family in India).

If you are a web design agency, visitors who landed on your website searching for "free wordpress themes" don't count (unless you are, in fact, giving away free WordPress themes as a marketing tactic).

Not just website data; it's easy to misinterpret or give undue importance to customer feedback as well.

Things to consider when you get feedback from a customer:

Does this customer fit the profile you're targeting?

Are other customers likely to agree with the feedback?

And of course: Is the customer paying for your product?

Customers who don't pay for software, or who want big discount codes on a $9 per month plan, are the wrong ones to take feedback from.

As a rule of thumb, feedback from non-paying users tends to focus on additions to the product.

Feedback from paying customers focuses on improvements to the product.

Please click NEXT to continue reading...

Image: It's important to take feedback and look at data from an objective point of view.Photographs: Illustration by Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Mistake 3. Not focusing enough

This is the one I struggle with most -- focusing on activities that further my marketing objectives.

What is your biggest objective right now? Getting customers, up-selling to existing customers, retaining customers (or if you're new or looking to expand, increasing visibility)?

If you let yourself be distracted into activities that don't further your core objectives, don't be surprised when you don't meet your objectives.

I'm not saying that your marketing activities should all be based on short-term goals.

It's a good idea to have an active presence on social media even if it's not your most profitable channel.

But if you're targeting mid-sized businesses and your biggest objective right now is lead generation, don't fool yourself into thinking that presenting at that start-up event is a productive marketing activity.

Start-ups are always short of time.

Are you working on the most important thing you could be doing?

And tell us: What are the biggest mistakes you've made as an entrepreneur?

What mistakes have you seen other start-ups make?

Image: Prioritise your objectives and goals so that you can concentrate better and achieve them.Photographs: Illustration by Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com